


The Impossible Year

by missmallorymarie



Series: Missing Pieces [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Shiro (Voltron), Carlos Gomez-Addams aka my OC, F/M, Gen, Other, Reader-Insert, Self-Insert, happy season 7 eve, lemme live okay, love that boi, the linguistics intern bae
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-24 14:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15632751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmallorymarie/pseuds/missmallorymarie
Summary: It's been almost a year since the Kerberos mission, since you thought you'd lost the love of your life forever. But a fire is brewing within your soul. Despite your previous beliefs, you no longer can sit idly by and accept what the Garrison has told you about the disappearance of the crew on that mission. You need answers. And it's about time you find your missing pieces.





	1. No Man's Land

**Author's Note:**

> We're nearing the end of this series, my friends. But alas, there shall be another series to come upon completion of this one. Happy Season 7 Eve, friends. I hope to have the final piece of this up on here sometime either tomorrow, or over this weekend. I want to thank everyone who has been reading "Missing Pieces" up to this point. It's really meant a lot to me that it's been so well received. I also just want to again put out the disclaimer that in my story here, Shiro is bi. I haven't had anyone come for me yet in regards to my previous material but you never know. 
> 
> So, what do you think is in the works, hmm?? Read on, my friends, and don't forget to come chill with me in the comments!
> 
> Please, enjoy this two-part finale special!

You looked down with disgust at the plate of slop before you. For the first time in months, you’d willingly left the comfort of your apartment to go down to the alleged “good” cafeteria that you’d gained access to when you’d joined the research team. It was something the fresh meat didn’t have access to and it had been fabled that the food in this particular cafeteria was actually edible. In all the time since you’d been allowed entry into this supposed Promised Land, this was your first time venturing there yourself. Shiro had enjoyed cooking, so he usually sent you off to your lab with something tasty and a sweet little note as an extra treat. You recalled those lunches as you prodded at your heap of Garrison goop. You couldn’t tell if it was dead or alive, and you honestly didn’t think you wanted to know which it was, no which it ought to be. It was safe to say that you had not been missing much.

Shoving the food tray aside, you opted to stick with the pudding cup. Chocolatey, tasty, and contents untouched by any of the Garrison’s so-called chefs. That sweet, pre-packaged, factory-sealed goodness. You thanked the heavens as you plunged your spoon in, taking on a satisfactorily large bite of the sugary treat. Perfect. You’d have to be a special kind of awful at food handling in order to fuck up pudding.

You flipped mindlessly through your emails on your data pad as you snacked, marking off the junk mail as ‘Read’ and scanning for anything actually relevant. What caught your eye immediately set your heart racing with anxiety. 

You opened the email to find a profile on Keith, letting all ranking officers, staff, faculty, engineers, pilots, scientists, etc. know that this was a disgruntled former student with whom Iverson had very strong issues, and that he was not supposed to be on the premises. He had apparently been spotted on security footage outside one of the residential buildings, and the Garrison wanted to make sure everyone was on alert.

He knew sneaking on campus was risky. You rubbed at your temples, making a mental reminder to yourself to tip him off about this the next time you saw him. Which would hopefully be before anyone else did.

You scrolled through the rest of the email. Another name stood out to you: Katie Holt. They said she had been caught snooping around in places she had no business being, and that everyone was to be on the lookout for her. Holt… Holt as in the commander? As in Matt Holt? From the pictures provided, she definitely bore a strong resemblance to them. Though to be fair, you weren’t as familiar with the Holts as Shiro had been. He’d brought Matt back to your place a fair number of times, always for loud bouts of Mario Kart. You may have had lunch with them a couple times here and there. Shiro regarded them as the closest thing he had to a family sometimes. You knew they held a special place in his heart. You examined the girl’s photograph once again, smiling to yourself as she seemed to look more and more like Matt the more you focused on her features. Particularly her eyes.

Part of your theory as to what exactly it was that resulted in such a strong friendship between Shiro and Matt was that not only were they just massive nerds in general, they also had such a fervid, insatiable curiosity. _Physics geeks_ , you always scoffed to yourself, secretly marveling at the awe and wonder they carried in their eyes. You could see a similar curiosity in that of Katie Holt as well.

Your spoon hit the bottom of your pudding cup with a disappointing _clack_. You wondered if it would be wise to try and acquire a second one, but ultimately decided against it. You attempted to make your food look like you had at least made an effort to eat it before closing your data pad up, taking your food tray, and discarding the remains. You filed away a mental note to never come eat in this place again, unless you had no other options for pudding.

It had been a while since you’d strolled these hallways so nonchalantly. “Business as usual” had always been your approach, but now finally returning to “the norm”, you found yourself dwelling on the little things even more. The halls were cold, colder than you were used to. The lighting didn’t make for the most welcoming of atmospheres, either. And when was the last time anyone had splashed a fresh coat of paint on the doors? A few were chipping and could definitely use repainting. It amazed you that you’d managed to not notice before, but you supposed you’d been preoccupied taking strolls hand-in-hand with Shiro most of those other times.

Despite that you were finally up and about, trying to give the illusion of being a fully-functioning linguistic researcher for the Galaxy Garrison, you remained consumed by thoughts of him. Ever since that dream, you’d had the feeling looming over you that there was something the Garrison wasn’t telling everyone. Something they were omitting, keeping secret not only from the public, but also from their own people. Suspicion had been brewing within you since that night. It was too real. You’d wrestled with the thought that maybe you’d finally cracked and lost your goddamn marbles, but you were certain now that what you’d seen of Shiro in that dream had been something more than a wet dream about your allegedly-deceased lover.

Your thoughts turned again to Katie Holt. “Snooping” around the Garrison, huh? It seemed like she had some theories up her sleeve as well. And the fact that the Garrison hadn’t gone into much detail concerning the accusations against her didn’t exactly make it sound like there was nothing to snoop in the first place. You wondered if maybe Katie had been looking into the top-secret files on the Kerberos mission. Maybe she knew something you didn’t. You sent up a silent prayer that if she was caught again, it would be by you.

You came to the door to the linguistics department, smiling and greeting your colleagues the best that you could without it coming off forced. They asked how you were doing, how you were “holding up”, if there was anything they could do because they were “always here for you”. The same barrage you faced whenever you were in the presence of anyone who knew who you or Shiro were. You made your way through them to your corner by the window, where you found Carlos hard at work on the last data set you’d given him to look over. He seemed surprised to see you down here, and in something other than leggings and Shiro’s class hoodie for a change. You looked like a professional woman with your shit together. He didn’t say so in so many words, but you got the message loud and clear.

Carlos gave you the rundown on what he’d been analyzing. You’d looked over this stuff only briefly before handing it off to him earlier in the month. Part of you felt bad stiffing him with so much work, but he was doing this for class credit, after all, and you wanted him to get into what it truly meant to be part of this department and to be a researcher for the Garrison in general. His work did not disappoint you. You were proud of the way he’d managed to break down so much of the syntax from the set of transmissions the Garrison had picked up. You didn’t know how deep into space the deepest probe had gone, but you had a strong feeling that you were picking up on concrete proof that there was life outside Earth.

“I think I’ve been dealing with these for too long, though. I’m starting to hear things,” Carlos shook his head.

You reached for him and gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

“It happens to the best of us,” you reassured with a smile. “Sometimes you’ve just got to step away from it all. Y’know, clear your mind.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, you’re telling me. I keep thinking I’m hearing ‘Ultron’, like that Avengers movie? God. You know you’re a nerd when this shit happens. But uh, a couple of the other interns and I were going to have a movie night, speaking of which. If you’re up and about I’m sure they wouldn’t mind one more person joining, if you’re into Marvel movies.”

His smile was so genuine and so warm. It made you want to ruffle his hair, but you refrained. Professionalism, and all. You wished you could accept his offer, but Keith was supposed to pay you a visit this evening. “Sorry, Carlos. I’d really love to. I am expecting company in a bit and it’s about some fairly pressing matters. Otherwise I’d be so down,” you said, stuffing a pair of books into your bag along with the copy of Carlos’s research he’d given you to look over more in-depth. You paused to flip through it briefly before sliding it snugly between the two books so as not to scrunch the pages. “You’ve done a great job with this, by the way. I really appreciate all you’ve done while I’ve been, uh, incapacitated.”

He said it was nothing, but you knew he was trying to impress you. You remembered being his age and eager to get into the field, to show off what you were capable of. You knew Carlos had some big things ahead of him.  

You thanked him again for the invite and agreed on a raincheck. Professionalism out the window, you shared a brief hug and Carlos said he was glad you were doing better. While your other coworkers seemed concerned enough, they seemed to be feigning an abnormal among of sympathy. Carlos always spoke from his heart. You appreciated that about him.

En route back up to your flat, you passed by the flight simulator where Iverson was digging into this season’s crop of fresh meat. Poor saps. You always wondered how Shiro had managed to get on Iverson’s good side. You were also terrified at the thought of Iverson _having_ a good side. You stopped at the window, peering into the large facility and down to the ground where young would-be pilots were divided and huddled into groups, waiting for orders to be barked at them. God, they looked younger and younger each year.

You carried on your way, stopping here and there to exchange pleasantries with those who would stop you and comment on how good it was to see you up and at ‘em. You smile and nod for the most part, growing increasingly irritated. You finally made it up to your home. You flung your bag on the kitchen island next to where you’d left your laptop open and headed for the fridge. You were certain you had to have leftovers from the pizza you’d ordered the other night. _Aha! Edible food._ You praised whatever deity would hear it and popped a couple slices in the toaster oven, obviously the only effective method of reheating pizza.

Situating yourself on one of the barstools, you pulled up the email from earlier on your data pad whilst shoveling food into your mouth. You wondered again about this Katie Holt. You wondered what she was like, what her favorite subjects were, what she did in her free time. Maybe she was a lot like Matt. The profile on her that had been emailed out said she was 14. _Jeez_ , you thought. If she really had been investigating into the Kerberos mission, you didn’t blame her. Your fiancée was missing, sure, but she too had lost people dear to her. Her father and her brother, presumed dead in space? Hell, if you were in her shoes, you’d want to know more too. In fact, you did want to know more. The gnawing at the recesses of your mind had undoubtedly grown.

You were shaken from your thoughts by a sudden tapping against the glass of the doors to your balcony. Perhaps “shaken” was an understatement. You practically jumped out of your skin, turning around and taking a defensive position, until you realized it was Keith. Your shoulders relaxed and you hurried to let him in before someone saw him.

“There’s a front door, you know,” you half whispered and half yelled as you yanked him in by the collar of his jacket, making haste to shut the door behind him and pull down the blinds.

“As much as I love a good adrenaline rush,” he began, straightening out his jacket. “That’s just a little too much of a risk for me.”

“So you thought scaling the building to my balcony was les conspicuous?”

He shrugged. “Like I said. Adrenaline rush. And still probably safer than trying to march right in through the front.”

You opened your mouth to criticize his plan but…he had a point. Damn it.

He smiled and raised the plastic bag he’d brought along. “Thought you could use some boba?”

Keith sat down on your couch, pulling out the drinks and setting them down. You grabbed your tablet from where you’d left it and joined him. He even punched the straw through the plastic on top for you. What a gentleman. He opted for the strawberry milk tea and brought you a blended taro that tasted divine. It went surprisingly well with leftover pizza.

You took a sip, chewing the tapioca balls thoroughly before speaking again. “Seriously, Keith, you’re going to get your chops busted if you keep doing this. Iverson practically has a bounty on your head.” You handed him the tablet with the email front and center. “I don’t want the next time I see you to be with your head mounted on a plaque in Iverson’s office,” you teased.

Keith skimmed the profile on himself, a sly smirk upon his countenance. “Okay, but, you have to admit,” he said, holding the data pad beside his face. “This is a _great_ picture of me.”

You snorted and rolled your eyes, taking another swig of your beverage.

“I mean it though, you have to be more careful next time you – “

“There won’t be a next time.”

You blinked, certain that you hadn’t heard correctly.

“W-what are – ?”

Keith sighed and his demeanor shifted, much more serious than before. “I know I can’t keep sneaking over here. It’s dangerous for me, but also for you. I told Shiro I’d take care of you, but I’m not exactly putting you in the safest position by coming here. So, “ he smiled again, dangling a brass key from his finger before tossing it to you. “You’ll just have to come to my place instead.”

Catching the key, you turned it over in your palm, examining the attached keychain. Something was on it. Were those….

“Coordinates?” you asked.

“Yep. I’m not saying come live with me, I know you have important shit to do here. But if there is ever anything you need, even if it’s just to stop by and say hey, you’re welcome in my home. It’s not much, but there’s space enough that you can keep some things there if you need to. I want you to be able to have someplace you can clear your mind, too.”

You knew he was right. Most of your adult life had been dedicated to the Garrison and to Shiro. Everything surrounding you bore his memory and if anyone saw how it weighed on you, it was Keith. Fresh air couldn’t hurt. You slipped the key onto the chain around your neck, right by Shiro’s dog tags. Safest place for something like this, you figured.

You and Keith sat and caught up, telling him of the happenings of the day. You told him of what Carlos had been helping you with and how proud you were of his work. You probably prattled on about him more than you should have but hey, he was a good kid. You knew he had recently gone through a fairly sore breakup, and you wondered out loud if there were any guys you could set him up with. Keith tried to recall a few names from his classmates that might be a good fit. You’d never played matchmaker before, but damn it, that kid deserved to be happy. Keith said his day was considerably less interesting, unless you counted the family of armadillos that were on his porch earlier, and then sneaking into your home.

“Seriously, I’m surprised you’ve managed this much without getting caught,” you said as you loudly slurped down the rest of your boba.

He followed your lead, placing his cup down on the table with gusto. “You and me both. I don’t know why its taken them this long to start putting people on alert. They don’t seem too fond of that Holt girl either.”

It was starting to get late, and Keith figured that if he were to make his escape the same way he had entered, then he’d better get a move on before the nighttime security set out. You hugged him goodbye, giving him a heartfelt thanks for all he’d done for you and promising you’d come by as soon as you could. He gave you a squeeze, planting a kiss goodbye atop your head before dashing off into the night.

Later that evening, you found yourself out on the balcony, your nightgown billowing in the breeze as you gazed up into the cosmos. You weren’t even looking for something in particular, and yet there you stood, entranced by the gleaming starlight that managed to reach your naked eye. An ache smoldered within you, longing to know what was out there. Or rather, _who_ was out there. A shooting star dashed across the skyline, and like a child, you closed your eyes and wished.

* * *

Days passed. Days turned into weeks. You had moved a few token sleepover items to Keith’s house - which was a generous descriptor for the dinky shack in the middle of nowhere - mostly going over for a meal here and there and talking about the new semester at the Garrison. Keith was always willing to listen to bitching about that place. You had some great conversation and great laughs. Now and again you two would fall asleep on the couch together watching a movie. Carlos had had the right idea mentioning Marvel movies, and you and Keith had started a marathon one weekend, going all the way back to the first Iron Man movie. Together you drooled over Robert Downey Jr. being foxy. It was grand.

You had more work to do now that classes were beginning again, though, and your visits to Keith’s became fewer and farther between. He always checked on you via text, though. You truly appreciated the way he went above and beyond for you. You crammed your phone in your bra cup, lacking a free pocket on your hips, and you made your way down toward your department. You still had no idea if they were going to ask you to TA any of the classes this semester, and you really, really did not want to. You probably wouldn’t have to but you still had to check, just in case.

As you walked, your eye was caught by some rummaging in one of the offices to your left. A head of strawberry blonde that could not have belonged to any of the geezers that worked there. You approached the door, wondering whether or not it was your place to intervene. Cautiously, you turned the  handle and entered.

“Um, excuse me?” you squeaked.

A pair of terrified amber eyes behind large glasses flashed up at you like a deer in headlights. You took a step back, caught off guard by the striking resemblance.

“M-Matt?” you gasped. How could…? No. Wait. This was…?

“You know my brother,” said the intruder, thus identifying herself as Katie Holt. She seemed to b just as stunned as you, not sure what the next step was from here.

Protocol would dictate you turn her in, but how fortunate it was that it was you who caught her instead of someone else.

All you could do was nod and allow her to finish what it was she was doing. It wasn’t sneaking around if she was supervised, right? That’s how you chose to see it, anyway. You swallowed, bringing some relief to your dry throat before speaking again.

“I didn’t – I don’t know him closely but he was on the Kerberos mission with my fiancé. And your father,” you said shakily.

“How much have they told you about Kerberos?” Katie asked as she rummaged through a stack of files, grabbing a flash drive that rested under them and plugging it in.

“The same as they told everyone else. Pilot error. Presumed dead.” You shook your head as you choked out the last bit. Your belief in that statement was shaky at this point, but it still hurt to utter.

She shook her head slowly and disappointedly as she seemed to be copying the data to her own flash drive. “So they really are keeping things under wraps, even to _you_ ,” she emphasized in reference to your colleagues and people of your rank.

“What do you - ?”

“The ship made it to Kerberos. Intact. They have the reports right here. Something happened out there, for sure. But not what they’re telling people.”

Her words sunk into you one by one like rocks into a pond. Someone else believed that Shiro, and the others, could actually still be alive? Your hands were trembling. Was this real?

“Katie, I – “

“It’s Pidge,” she cut you off. “They know Katie Holt, and she isn’t exactly supposed to be here. Pidge Gunderson, however, he’s allowed on Garrison property.”

Clever girl, she was.

She ejected both flash drives, placing the original back under the clutter and pocketing her own, gesturing that you two really ought to get out of there. When you were out of the immediate danger zone, you two properly introduced yourselves to each other. You gave her your contact information, and she said that she had to get back to her teammates, but if you wanted to talk more about Kerberos, she’d be out past curfew on the rooftop.

You parted ways, but your thoughts swirled all day. You stopped by your desk to check in on things. No Carlos today, oddly enough. Must have been getting ready for the last of his classes. Soon enough he’d have his own workspace down here. You were so proud of him. Fortunately, you found the class listings and found that you had not been assigned a class to assist in instructing, which opened things up for your own personal investigations.

The hours ticked by painfully slowly as you waited for the clock to strike 10:30pm, lights out for all cadets. You made your way to the rooftop, finding Pidge alone with her computer and a stack of books to keep her company. You called out to her in a whisper, alerting her to your presence as you sat down beside her. You plopped your bag down beside you.

You found that she was much less snippy when she wasn’t trying to hurriedly copy files and get out of the office she’d broken into. She told you about how she’d suspected from the beginning that the Garrison was keeping something hidden, and when she’d gone on her first couple fact-finding missions, she discovered her hunch had been correct. The Garrison wasn’t being honest about Kerberos. They lied to the public, their own staff, and worst of all, to the loved ones of those involved in the alleged accident. She wholeheartedly believed that they were still out there. You swallowed hard.

You omitted the graphic details of your dream from not long ago, telling her only that you’d seen Shiro in your dreams, and it felt so real that it just kept nagging at you, pulling on your heart as if to say he wasn’t really gone. You told her of the strange things about him in these dreams, like his attire or the feeling of callouses having formed on his usually-smooth hands. But most of all, the look in his eyes. It had been indescribable and filled with so many mixed emotions.

“But when I saw his eyes, it just lit something within me, you know? And now hearing you say all this about Kerberos and the Garrison…I..I believe it now. They’re really somewhere out there. _God_.” Your thoughts were going a million miles per hour.

Pidge stayed up there on the roof with you for hours. You told tales of Shiro, of Matt and Sam, bonding over the sheer dork factor that undoubtedly bonded the three of them. You told her that those two had been the closest thing Shiro’s had to a family in a long time. His grandfather was the one who raised him and got him started on his path, but he passed away a while back. Sam had been the closest thing Shiro had to a father. Pidge smiled, and you could tell her heart swelled for love of her family.

When it got to be around 1am, you decided to call it quits for the night. You sent her with a copy of the recent research that maybe she would find it useful in her searching. You agreed to keep your eyes and ears out for anything for each other. Two brains were better than one. You went away from that encounter feeling more confident and hopeful than ever.

Too jazzed to sleep, you returned to your flat and grabbed a hoodie and a couple things here and there to go dump at Keith’s place. He shouldn’t be up this late and part of you planned to scold him if he was, but nonetheless, you made the journey to his home and let yourself in.

Keith lay asleep on his tattered couch with the television running. He fell asleep last time you watched Captain America as well. He must have been trying to actually catch up and absorb the information. Well, third time would have to be the charm. You chuckled to yourself, feeling strangely invigorated for the first time in almost a year.

You went to his room and rifled through your drawer in the dresser, slipping into something cozy before going out to sit in the rocking chair on his deck. He was such a basic country boy sometimes. You found it charming.

The breeze was crisp as you rocked back and forth, getting lost once again in the infinite expanse of stars. Instead of looking up and feeling lost and incomplete, you felt a stirring in your soul. You felt like you were on the right path for the first time in what felt like ages. It was soothing. You could almost feel sleep trying to claim you, but you fought it off, gazing into the heavens as deeply as you had Shiro’s eyes. You looked up and you felt that same swell that came over you when he looked at you with such endless love in his heart. And you were going to see him again. You knew for certain.

Your eyes began to feel heavy. You could fight it no longer. But before your slumber came to take you, you closed your eyes as tight as you could, and hoped you would be able to will your thoughts into Shiro’s mind.

_“I know you’re out there, honey. I’ll find you. I swear.”_

 

 


	2. The Man Who Fell to Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for a little reunion, isn't it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, my friends, this is it. The final chapter. The last piece of the last installment of the Missing Pieces series. This is the first thing like this I've actually completed and I've honestly never been prouder of my own writing than I have with this series. 
> 
> A special thanks to my friends who have uplifted me through this, whether through letting me bounce ideas off them or just helping me through rough days. 
> 
> I hope you've all enjoyed this ride as much as I've enjoyed creating this. Now, on with the content.

You couldn’t help that you clenched your fist upon seeing the news broadcast that morning. One year ago today the Kerberos mission had launched. One year ago had been the last time you’d had Shiro by your side. And all these talking heads had to say was that the Garrison wanted to do something to remember those who had fallen in the name of exploration. Your mug fell to the ground, shattering instantly whilst you stood there with your teeth gritted.

Angrily, you swept up the mess you’d made on Keith’s kitchen floor and stormed into the front room where he stood before the television set, equally fuming. It was Sunday morning and you’d stayed over again, needing to get out of your apartment for a bit. Especially on this occasion.

“This is all they do for their allegedly ‘fallen heroes’? A segment on the morning news? A lousy email newsletter?” you spat. Their lack of tact left a taste in your mouth more bitter than that of the black coffee you’d spilt. You had half a mind to go and march right into the PR office and give them something to broadcast about. But you knew deep down that it was best that one of the two of you had eyes and ears on the inside for research purposes.

_“Reports last year attributed the failure of the spacecraft to a pilot error, with the Garrison’s top pilot Takashi Shi-“_

The news anchor was cut off by Keith, who was not satisfied with simply turning off the outdated television set and proceeded to pitch the remote into the screen, thus shattering the glass. His teeth were gritted, and you could see his knuckles turning white.

“They don’t deserve to have his name in their mouths. How dare they even – What makes them think they can – ?” he lost himself to his sputtering out his disdain for the Garrison, letting out an exasperated and disgusted grunt.

You were grateful that Keith had effectively ruined any chance of you having to sit through the whole “the crew are survived by…” spiel all over again. Without a sliver of a doubt, he was just as upset about the disrespect to the grieving family and loved ones of the crew members as he was about the shallowness of the publicity stunt. The broadcast would have certainly ended with a plug for the Galaxy Garrison, encouraging young, eager would-be recruits to come be part of exploring the next frontier.

Counting to ten and taking a deep breath, like a child with a temper, you cooled yourself off and rolled your eyes. _Whatever_ , you figured. You threw yourself onto the sofa, kicking your legs across Keith’s. You dug out the bottle of ibuprofen from amongst the clutter on the end table, dry swallowing two in hopes of alleviating the tension in your body.

“Here,” you said, tossing the bottle at Keith’s chest. “Take some. If you keep making that face, it’ll stick like that.”

His scowl softened and he followed your lead. While you were both grateful that is was the weekend, you were especially so. You didn’t think you could handle dealing with the Garrison today of all days. Perhaps spending so much time with Keith wasn’t helping you develop a healthy response to stress and irritation but spending time with him was what put your mind at ease lately.

You made sure to send Pidge a quick text, coded of course, wishing her the best today in dealing with the bullshit that was sure to be happening at the barracks right now.

Keith put his arms behind his head and laid back, sighing heavily, almost pensively.

“…Did he ever take you our near here on that hoverbike of his…?” Keith asked, breaking the silence.

You nodded. “We had a couple late nights out in that canyon out that way. He did this crazy dive and it just – God, it was insane,” you reminisced, feeling the smile that was creeping its way across your face. That’s right. You remembered Shiro telling you about taking Keith out here on those things before. His daredevilish side always drove you up the wall for worry about his safety, but him having an inner bad boy that he let loose always kind of did something for you.

“I remember. He did that every time with me. I was so shocked the first time when he did it in the middle of a race. I wanted to be pissed at him for showing off but _damn_ , it was cool,” Keith chuckled. “Did he ever teach you?”

“Nah, we only had access to the one hovercycle and I had a lesson here or there. I could get one off the ground if I tried but I, uh, kind of preferred riding behind him and holding on anyway,” you said as your cheeks grew rosy. You twirled a finger through one of your stray locks at the thought, remembering locking your arms around his waist with the flat of your palm pressed into his toned abdomen and your cheek to the back of his jacket. You snapped out of your daydream and shook your head apologetically for spacing out. “Why do you ask?’ you inquired.

The grin he wore grew to twice its original size. “I have one out back. Should we go for a ride? I think it’s how he’d want us to spend the day remembering him.”

It had been ages since you’d been on one. You weren’t sure if you could put the whole of your faith in Keith’s driving skills, but you agreed nonetheless.

The two of you rode for hours. You took turns, Keith instructing you on the finer motor skills needed to maneuver the machine and you flying the craft on your own for a bit, and then switching to riding behind him, holding on for dear life. A need for speed ran deep in Keith’s bones. You clung to him tightly, partially so that if anything were to happen to you, he’d be going down too. But he proved to be skilled with the contraption and you were able to relax, leaning against his back and closing your eyes. The sun beat down hot this time of year, but the warm desert breeze on your cheeks brought back memories.

“Do you trust me?” Keith called to you over the engine’s purr.

“What?” you yelled, not 100% sure of what he’d said.

“Hang on!” was all you could make out. He sped up, and you saw the canyon’s edge appear on the horizon. Every part of you was screaming “oh, shit.” Every part of except one, that is. Deep in the back of your mind, you could hear that little voice telling you everything was fine.

_“It’s all about timing.”_

You put your faith in Keith, squeezing his torso as he took the leap from the cliff. You were airborne, but only for a moment before he put the hoverbike into a nosedive. You shut your eyes tight, counting each second down as you approached the target zone to pull up.

_“Pull up too soon, and you won’t have the momentum needed to create lift. Too late, and there won’t be enough momentum to avoid the crash.”_

You felt like you were out on a joyride with Shiro again, if only for the split second before Keith pulled the cycle back up, thus saving you from becoming buzzard food out in the middle of nowhere. You gave him credit where credit was due. He learned from the master, after all, though he did improvise considerably from Shiro’s riding style.

You let out a “WOO!” nonetheless.

Before you knew it, it was dusk. The vibrant purples and pinks and oranges of the desert sky danced as the sun bid you farewell for the evening. Your breathing was still shaky and your adrenaline levels remained elevated as you leaned back against the parked vehicle beside Keith, standing with his arms folded. You looked at him staring wistfully at the horizon. He must have felt your curious eyes on him, because he answered your question before you could ask what he was thinking about.

“He used to take me out here. I’m sure he told you how hotheaded I was, but something about being out here with him was – “

“ – Therapeutic?” you offered, completing his sentence where he trailed off.

He nodded.

“I always felt like he believed in me and actually meant it,” Keith said.

“Well, knowing Shiro, he wouldn’t have let you feel that way unless he meant it.”

“He talked about you a lot, too. How you inspired him, how you made him want to do his best and how he hoped he did that for you too,” Keith began before taking a pause. He seemed as thought there were something he wasn’t sure if he should tell you. He spoke again with a breath. “He thought maybe you would want to have the wedding out here. We were here one time and the sunset was a lot like this one. When he really took a minute to take it all in, he gasped and stepped back. I asked him what was wrong, because the look on his eyes wasn’t one I’d ever seen before. He said it was like he was looking at a painting of what he felt when he looked at you. I know you guys wanted to keep the ceremony small, and he thought this would be a perfect place, that he could not only tell you how he felt, but show you what his love looked like.”

Your heart stopped as the vision came over you. You could practically see yourself with your hands in Shiro’s, locking eyes as you vowed to stand by each other’s side for the entirety of your lives. To never stop loving and cherishing each other. The tears welled in your eyes as you thought of the kiss you would have shared just as the stars came to take over the sky. No one would hear the music, but your love would be the symphony that swept you away. You would have danced together under their radiance well into the night, swaying to the beat of each other’s hearts.

You swallowed hard as you snapped back to the present, staring at the sky. Ever-prepared, Keith handed you a tissue from the inner pocket of his jacket.

It was getting late, and you needed to be awake in the morning to get down to your office. You and Keith drove back to his home so you could grab your bag. He donned an old leather jacket you assumed was his dad’s and threw on some old goggles to disguise himself before driving you back to your residence at the Garrison. You got off the hovercycle and embraced him before walking to the door of your building, using your keycard to get in, and being greeted by the evening security guard. Recognizing you, they stopped to ask about the “cutie on the bike” that had dropped you off. They called him a bad boy and waggled their brow.

With a roll of your eyes, you headed up to your floor.

You flung your stuff by the doorway and made a beeline for your room. You decided it would be best to shower in the morning, as you were absolutely wiped out right now. One thing pressed on your mind before you gladly and with open arms welcomed slumber to take you. You went to your dresser across the room, opening Shiro’s side. You rifled through his socks until you found that little box covered in sleek black velvet. It creaked as you opened it, admiring the way the diamond caught the light. It had belonged to his grandmother. While he’d never opted for a formal proposal and you two had kind of just been mutually in agreement that you’d get married one day, he wanted you to have something special to wear when he returned from Kerberos and announced your engagement at the following press conference. He’s sent it to be resized to fit your delicate fingers before he left but hadn’t had time to fix the cracked stone in the center.

You slid it onto your ring finger, shifting your hand from side to side. The silver of the band looked stunning against your complexion, and the diamond really didn’t look all that bad, even cracked. The only problem was that now that it was on, you didn’t want to take it off. You decided it would remain where it was.

You threw yourself face first onto your mattress and pulled your phone out of your pocket to set your alarm. You noticed the message notification from Pidge. She had responded with her thanks and asking you to meet her for lunch tomorrow. She had found something. You sent her an “Okay” and tossed your phone beside your pillow. You let the light reflecting off your ring entrance you, and you were soon lulled to sleep.

* * *

The semester carried on as usual. Autumn out in the dessert didn’t have the same appeal as it did in your hometown. It wasn’t so big of a city that you didn’t get to indulge in the crisp breezes and stomping through crunchy. It had always had a fast-paced but not hectic ambience about it there. You had never found yourself bored there growing up, but when it came time for you to pursue higher education, you decided that this amalgam of military and astronomy at the Galaxy Garrison was what called your name. In your first year, you found the weather to be harsher than you’d grown up with. Being mostly desert terrain for as far as the naked eye could see, it was hot and sandy and dry. The nights were chilly during most of the year, and damn near freezing in the winter. Autumn was good, though. It was the happy medium you’d craved for the rest of the year. A light jacket was all you needed and the wind that bit at your cheeks and nose was not too frigid and nowhere near as hot as it usually was.

You ate your peanut butter and jelly sandwich alone on the bench just outside the main facility, watching from a distance as eager cadets took to the skies for the first time, doing practice laps around the area. Their formation was a little sloppy, but they weren’t a bad crop this year. A couple of hotshots in the group, of course, but the good ones usually outgrew their cockiness.

You were startled by Pidge joining you at the other end of the bench, greeting you with little more than a “hey” before digging a granola bar from her bag. Over the last few months, you two had grown relatively close. You weren’t joined at the hip or anything, but you always had time for her if she needed some company. She said her teammates were kind of difficult to work with, but they got along alright. You thought maybe it helped having some company from someone in similar shoes as she was. You understood each other in a way that no one could understand. You’d both been lied to regarding the whereabouts of people close to you, and those lies perpetrated by the organization in which you were supposed to blindly place your trust.

Fresh out of flight simulator drills, she had a few minutes of downtime before she had to run off to her next class.

“Oh?” you cocked an eyebrow. “How did it go this time?”

She shrugged. “About the same as it always does. Iverson brought up Kerberos again and, god, I just wanted to pop him a good one.”

“As if you could reach,” you snorted.

“Ha, ha,” she spoke sarcastically with a deadpan stare.

Point for you on that one.

She took another ferocious bite from her snack, chewing as she spoke, “No, but really.” She swallowed. “The stuff your lab guy was looking at? You said he kept hearing something he couldn’t make out, right? Thought he was going crazy and hearing Avengers references?”

“Yeah, why?”

“He wasn’t crazy, but it’s not an Avengers thing. I’ve been running some scans and I keep picking something up. I don’t think he was hearing ‘Ultron’. I think someone out there is looking for something called ‘Voltron’.”

You looked at her curiously. ‘Voltron’?

“I have no idea exactly what it is, but it’s in the transmissions.” She handed you a flash drive and rose to her feet. “Check it out, and see if there’s anything you can make of it. I’m going to be listening for more tonight but if you have any thoughts, you know where to find me,” she smiled at you. You exchanged a simple handshake consisting of a high five, fist bump, and a snap, and with that she was on her way to Introductory Nuclear Thermodynamics. Little brainiac.

You swallowed the last of your sandwich and carried on with your routine for the day. Not that you really had much to be doing anyway, but you made your rounds checking on the lab, seeing if anyone needed anything, and just generally making an appearance. A few people still asked how you were doing, wondering if you were okay or if anyone could get you anything. They always did so in that one voice, too. It always sounded so condescending, like they doubted your basic abilities to care for yourself as an adult. You tried not to let it get to you.

You thought of taking your laptop over to Keith’s place and giving the files a good listen. You texted him to see if he was busy tonight. You knew he never was, but it was still polite to ask, after all.

_Bzzt, bzzt._

**From: Keith**

_Can’t tonight. Sorry. Something came up. Can’t take the hovercycle anywhere right now either. Crashed into a Joshua tree. Next time!_

That was an oddly specific excuse, you thought. But no matter. Maybe he just had a date coming over or something that he was too shy to tell you about. You hoped that whoever he was bringing back to that dump wouldn’t be put off by your belongings that you kept there. Oh well. It wasn’t your business, so you shrugged it off and began working away, nose to the grindstone. Your soundproof headphones allowed you to be completely oblivious to the faintest noise around you, letting you be wholly immersed in the audio snippets.

You sifted through them painstakingly, hanging on each syllable, each mora, each consonant as if overlooking the most minuscule of details would result in catastrophe. You ran each one through your software, comparing what Pidge had heard with Carlos’s previous findings. You grew curiouser and curiouser with regard to this mysterious ‘Voltron’ Pidge had heard of. She was right. It was in there, alright, but you had no clue what it meant.

At some point in the middle of the night, you swore you felt the ground shake and a burst of light on the horizon. But when you put your work down to look out the window, you saw nothing. You shrugged, figuring you were at an impasse with your work as things stood right now, and you may as well shower off. You sent Pidge a quick text to let her know you’d heard what she wanted you to hear, but you were as clueless as she as to what to make of it. Tossing your phone on the bed and your uniform in the pile in the corner, you went to go let the hot water take you away.

Refreshed, you returned to your room and threw on one of Shiro’s t-shirts. It was long on you and fit more like a nightgown than your actual nightgowns. Plus, the smell was nice. Your eye was caught by the glistening rock on your right hand. You thought it interesting that no one had commented on your wearing it. You supposed they all knew that Shiro had intended to publicly announce his intent to marry you. They probably thought you were having an emotional crisis. But you didn’t care. It was something he wanted you to have, after all. What was so wrong with hanging onto it?

You stopped admiring your hand long enough to reach for your phone to see if Pidge had responded. _Strange_ , you thought. Not only was there no reply, but the first message had failed to go through. You furrowed your brow and tried once more. Minutes later, the message bounced yet again. You decided to go lay on the couch for a bit. The view tonight was stunning, and you were sure a little relaxation was all you needed in order to continue on with the analyzations.

What you hadn’t expected was to be woken up by your phone blaring at you at the crack of dawn. You didn’t know when you fell asleep, but nonetheless you peeled your eyes open and saw that Keith was calling you. He never called. This must be serious. You answered the phone with a groggy, “Yeah?”

“Get over here. Now.”

 _Click_.

Well, someone wasn’t a morning person. But then, neither were you. The urgency in Keith’s voice told you it was more than just a matter of being tired, though, and you made haste to gather your bag, throw on leggings and a more comfortable fitted tee. You contemplated your options as far as getting out there and decided you would be brave and take Shiro’s old hovercycle. You could fly it well enough to get there without any fancy tricks. You grabbed his leather jacket and zipped it up, hoping it looked cool rather than boxy on your smaller frame. It would keep the cool autumn air off your skin either way. And with that, you were off.

The journey didn’t take as long as you thought it would, but you also were probably speeding, by the looks of it. It was just before 6:30 now, and you dismounted the vehicle, beelining for Keith’s porch. In your haste you’d forgotten to grab your key, so you pounded on the door and called Keith’s name.

The door creaked as he opened it. Finally.

“I’m so sorry that took so long, I had to find a way to get out here and I – “ You froze as the situation hit you. Pidge and two others you recognized from the Garrison stood in Keith’s living room, and a fourth lay sprawled on the couch. Was that…was he… _dead_? Did Keith kill him? You let out a shriek and immediately covered your mouth. Wide-eyed, you dragged Keith back onto the patio, determined to find out just what the fuck had happened.

 _“Keith, what the_ hell _is this? Why do you have three teenagers and a fucking_ corpse _in your front room? Did you kill that guy? Oh_ god _. You made them help you kill that guy, didn’t you?”_ you spoke erratically in a shrill whisper and with spastic hand gestures for emphasis. You were with Keith through thick and thin but this? Did he call you here to help dispose of a body?

He tried to interrupt you, but your prattling continued.

 _“Oh my god, Keith, what the_ fuck _is your problem? You can’t just_ kill _people! And I cannot be your accomplice. There is hardly anything I wouldn’t do for you but_ hiding a body _? There is a_ line _, Keith. A very fine line and this? This is_ way _over that line, Keith! Way over – “_

“That’s Shiro in there.”

You felt like a window in the instant a stone came to shatter it. Your throat was dry as you spoke, words coming shakily from your mouth. “Keith, don’t you _dare_ fuck with me like that. You know what hell I’ve been through and –“

“Would you just go _look_ at him?”

“What? _No!_ I don’t want to see your fucking dead guy, Keith! What is _wrong_ with you? I swear to – Let _go_ of me! Keith, what the fuck are you – ?”

Keith held your wrist with a steel grip, dragging you against your will back into the living room. You tried to dig the heels of your boots into the floorboards, but he was stronger than you recalled. You face him and the wall on the opposite side of the room from where he was obviously trying to force you to look. You struggled as he grabbed your shoulders and forced you to turn around, and there you saw him.

Up close, you could see clearly that it was your Shiro. He was unconscious but breathing fairly steadily, as though he’d been sedated. You didn’t know where to focus. His face, which bore a scar right across the bridge of his nose, his hair, which had started to grey prematurely, or the fact that his entire right arm had seemingly been replaced with this…whatever this technology was. He looked as though he’d looked death in the muzzle and narrowly escaped with his life.

You stammered, unable to formulate the questions to ask what you wanted to know. Keith got the memo, explaining everything as you dropped to your knees beside where your fiancé lay comatose.

“There was a crash last night. He…he was on board a shuttle that landed just out that way. The Garrison tried to keep him from being seen but I, well, we all saved him. The Garrison scientists had sedated him before we got to him but…well, here we are now.”

You were stunned beyond speaking ability. Your hands trembled wildly as you raised one to run your fingers along the cool metal panels of the prosthetic limb. You wondered how he’d lost it, or what hell he’d seen over the past year. You brushed the tuft of white hair from his forehead, looking at deep scar across his nose. You wondered how many more marks like this marred his skin beneath the rags he wore.

Leaning over him more, you found yourself reaching to cradle his head in your arms, delicately tracing his still features. You grazed his temples and brow, down the perimeter of his face and over his ear, and down further still to cup his jaw. To your, and everyone’s, surprise, he stirred at your touch.

Your heart stopped as he let out a soft groan, from which you could barely make out the sound of your name. Still holding him, you reached to grab his hand. His palm was rough and calloused, but still get as warm as ever. You intertwined your fingers with his as his eyes fluttered open.

“Yes. Yes, Takashi, I’m here. It’s me,” you managed to breathe out, stroking your thumb over the back of his hand.

He blinked, letting his eyes adjust, focusing on you. A weak smile spread across his lips, and you knew it clicked for him. He tried to raise his hand to your face, and, unwillingly releasing his hand from yours, you guided his fingers to your cheek. You lowered your hand, resting it against his chest. You didn’t notice the tears streaming from your eyes when you felt the way his heart beat for you.

Overcome with your emotions, you leaned into him and captured his lips in a kiss unlike any you’d shared. You hoped it would tell him every word you could not produce. You hoped he could feel just how much you had missed him, because there weren’t enough words in any language, or in all languages combined, to express such a sentiment. He kissed you back, and you could have stayed like that for an eternity. A changed man was he, but despite everything, it really, truly was him. No longer did your heart feel half empty.

Your lips parted, but you leaned your forehead against his. Your breath was heavy and shaky, and you had no idea if you should laugh or cry or how else to emote. So naturally, all the emotions hit you at once, and all you could do was smile at him as the tears poured off your cheeks, mixing with those that flowed from the corners of his eyes.

“Shiro, I…” you choked.

“I know,” he said softly. “I love you, too.”

He guided your lips to his again, this time for a quicker peck.

“Thank you for finding me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it. 
> 
> The missing piece.
> 
> But fret not, my friends, for this is not the end. There is plenty more to come.   
> Real action! Real drama! Real bloodshed!!  
> Coming soon in a series yet to be named.
> 
> In the meantime, come hang with me on tumblr at either my main @ourlordandseivior, or my writing blog at @nebulous-library for updates on future writing content. 
> 
> Thank you again, everyone. I truly mean it when I say every comment, every hit, every kudos has helped propel me forward. Love you, and I'll catch you in the next one.

**Author's Note:**

> Well isn't that exciting?  
> You'll have to come back for part two of our finale, "The Man Who Fell to Earth". 
> 
> In the meantime, come kick it with me in the comments below. Let me know if I goofed anywhere, because again, I do my own editing (bad idea kids. don't do it. trust me.) and i often miss things. Come scream about s7 and our impending doom, or some scream on my fairly new writing blog @nebulous-library on Tumblr. 
> 
> Deuces, nerds.


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